Two Versions of The Truth
by A Flash of Starlight
Summary: Mulder and Scully telling William about their case 'Bad Blood'. Funny drama (in the literal sense of the word) ensues.
1. No Way!

Summary: Fluffy domestic fic with a teenage William. Followed by two different accounts of _Bad Blood_ as the plot thickens.

Part 1: _"No. Way!"_

Mulder pulled the parking brake as his Honda Civic comes to a stop across from Glenview Park High School. He takes out the Android from his pocket and mutters an impatient 'Damn it!' when his battery displays a meagre 5%. He can never understand how Scully always manages to keep her phone so well charged. He's never seen her battery drop below 50% whereas his has the tendency to dwell in the low percentages on the days when it's not actually half-dead.

'Come on old boy. Just one quick text message... You can do this.' Mulder quickly locates the strange yet familiar name on his modest contact list as he types the brief message:

'I'm here.'

Mulder has hardly put his phone to the side when its screen blinks with the notification:

'William: "I'll be out in 5 mins."

Mulder's heart almost skipped a beat when he sees the name on his phone. It's been several months but he still cannot believe this is happening. Scully, him, and William. Together, at long last. Just the thought of it both overwhelms him and makes his heart swell with joy and gratitude, if not a little disbelief.

Scully and Mulder are back at the FBI now. In the past four months or so, they would pick William up at school on their way home from work during the days he comes to live with them. It felt quite strange at first, this domestic normalcy: William climbing into the back seat, all sweaty from his basketball practice, shuffling his backpack aside while trying to make himself comfortable in the rather limited leg room in the back. William has grown quite tall now, a sure 5"8 with a lanky yet healthy form just like his dad. Scully soon sensed her son's discomfort judging from the accidental bumps on the back of her seat whenever William was trying to move his legs around. Every time William comes over, Scully would remember to crank her seat forward so her son could have more space. As William's stays grew both in length and frequency, Scully stopped pushing back her seat and just kept it way up in the front. She never needed much leg room anyway.

But the best part is always William's greetings as he opens the car door: 'Hey mom, dad.' At first the words 'Mom' and 'Dad' were muttered rather meekly and for a brief second all three of them would tense under the unfamiliarity. Now, the hesitance no longer exists. Any initial unease was replaced by a comforting sense of warm familiarity. It feels pleasant and somehow re-assuring for William to call them 'mom' and 'dad' as the words come naturally to him. For Mulder and Scully, every time their son utter those words, their heart still skip a beat. After all these weeks, they still find it hard to wrap their head around the reality that William is here. _Their son_ is here. The three of them. Together.

'Hullo Dad!' William's call jolts Mulder out of his reflections.

'Will! Come sit in the front with me.' Mulder flashes a happy grin as he unlocks the door and motions his hand at the seat next to his.

'Ok but dad, where's mom today?'

'She went home early this afternoon. It's just you and me this time, Will.'

'Geeez! Dad, how can mom possibly sit in such a tiny space? She could have pushed it back a few notches!' William exclaims as he cranks back the seat as far as he can.

Mulder cannot help but laugh:

'Hah hah she actually pushed her seat forward so you have more room back there. But don't worry Will. Mom is tiny! Uhm… no, I mean _petite._ Trust me, I've been driving with her since forever and I know she's more than comfortable with that little space. Anyway, how's school?'

'So so, dad. Oh, we were talking about ideas for the school play this Halloween. And so far most of us seem to agree on vampires.'

'Vampires? Interesting! Hmm…' The idea catches Mulder's interest immediately and he is already itchy to have a conversation with William on this colourful topic. Mulder almost wishes Scully was here so she can roll eyes at him as tries to impress William with his knowledge on vampirism.

'Do you know, William, there are as many kinds of vampires as there are cultures who fear them? I mean there are fanged or without-fang vampires, blood-sucking vampires, manure-eating vampires, and even vegetarians as the list goes on!'

'Whoa dad _vegan vampires_?'

'You heard me. But what kind of play are you planning on, anyway? What are the vampires doing in there? The typical blood sucking, melting away at the sight of the cross and all that?'

William slightly rolls his eyes and lets out an exasperated sight. This gesture reminds Mulder of Scully when he calls her to do an autopsy at some ungodly hour or when he rambles on about his wild theories.

'No, dad, I wish! I wanted to do something Bella Lugosi, you know, Nostefaru and stuffs, I mean the original Bram Stoker would be awesome too! But somehow most of the girls in my class insisted on doing this Twilight thing and because more than half of the class are girls, we were outnumbered so there you have it, Twilight.'

'And can you explain to your ole' pap what this Twilight is? I've spent quite some time poring over the vampire archive but somehow I don't think I remember seeing it.'

'You won't find it in your official or academic archives, dad. It's a popular fiction thing. Something about a normal girl with a vampire. And apparently this vampire is really attractive because the main character is head over heels into him and so are the girls in my class apparently. So yeah, ours Halloween will be a play about crushing on vampires, literally. I mean, seriously though! What can be so attractive about overgrown teeth and red eyes?'

Mulder gives his son a mischievous wink: ''Whooa William you have no idea how many people can find big teeth attractive.'

'Dad what do you mean? Don't tell me you're one of them?'

Mulder chuckled 'No, I'm not. But I know someone who does. There was this case long ago. Exchanging flirty glances with a vampire right at first sight, no less. And a vampire with huge and uneven buck teeth at that! Hoo boy… You can't help but think he hasn't seen his dentist for decades!'

'Haha flirty glances? With a guy, no, vampire, who has huge dirty buck teeth? Dad who on earth can be so funky? Is it someone I know?'

Mulder is quick to put on his mysterious holding-back-information Sherlock look as he winks as William: 'Yes, it's a person you know. Take a guess, Will. But here is a hint, think of someone whom you can never imagine doing that.'

William gasps, staring wide-eye at Mulder. The boy looks just like his dad when he saw a UFO for the first time. 'Dad you don't mean it's…?'

Mulder can hardly keep himself from laughing as he sees the incredulous look on his son's face: 'Yep. That's the one.'

'No way!'

'Wayyy…'

(To be continued)


	2. Can you please pass me the salt, Dana?

**Here goes part 2. I hope you guys like it. Thank you so much for reading! =D Have an awesome day. xD**

Scully was grazing cheese in the kitchen when she heard the sound of Mulder's car pulling up in the driveway. The two of them seemed to be in a good mood today. Their giggly chatter was audible even before the door opened.

'Hi mom!' William greeted her as he threw his backpack in the living room. Scully couldn't see him from where she was standing but she thought there was a hint of mischief in his voice.

'Hi Will. How's everything today?'

'So so, mom. But things just turned surprisingly interesting…' William answered mysteriously as he walked into the kitchen. Scully gave her son a questioning glance only to get an even more mysterious grin from him.

William hovered around the bubbling tomato sauce on the stove and sniffed appreciatively: _'Hoo boy!_ This smell _so_ good…!'

Scully almost jumped at the comment. Now she was positive there was some mocking amusement in his voice and this time, she would not let it go so easily. Especially if whatever he was up to had something to do with her. She raised her eyebrow and turned her full attention to William, preparing to get the truth out of him. But before she could begin her questions, William had quickly made his escape. He hollered cheerily as he ran into the living room and made his way upstairs: 'I'm taking a shower. See you later, mom!'

'Ahem… Scully, it's me.' Mulder called her gingerly as he came into the kitchen. He had not said a word and was uncharacteristically quiet since they came home. This, coupled with his rather sheepish voice, made Scully start to suspect he knew what was going on with William, if not in on the secret with him.

'Mulder, what's with you and William?'

'Oh uhm nothing special, no big deal. Ahem…. anyway I'll go set the table because you've been working hard today and you still have to cook and, you know… Bye!'

 **At the dinner table**

'So, William is doing a school play this Halloween.'

'Yeah, it's going to be on a Friday evening, four weeks from now. Can you guys come?'

'Of course!' Mulder and Scully answered in unison.

'Thanks for inviting us, Will. But are you playing any parts or are you working on the script or backstage?' asked Scully.

'Well I'll be working on the script because I don't really like being on stage… But if we can't get enough people for all the parts then I'll probably have to play one of the extras I guess.'

'Oh okay. And what is it going to be about?'

William has been dreading this question from his mom since his dad mentioned the play. He wasn't so sure if he could tell Scully the part with the girl crushing on a vampire without bursting out laughing. Actually, he has been having a hard time trying not to chuckle to himself the whole evening whenever he looked at Scully and imagine his mom 'Hoo boy!' a guy who had a 'slight overbite'.

'Uhm… there is this vampire, and a girl. And… mom it's kind of like Twilight. Do you know that book?'

'Oh yeah. I know that series. I didn't read it but it was all over the magazines a while ago. You mean they're romantically attracted to each other and all?'

'Yeah…' He breathed a relieved sigh and looked up to see his dad winking at him. Mulder was up to something again.

'Uhm hey…' Mulder slightly touched Scully's arm, drawing her attention.

'Yes Mulder?'

'Would you mind passing me the salt… _Dana_?'

William burst out laughing so hard he almost spat out his pumpkin soup.

Dinner passed without any other incidents except for Scully's occasional death stares at Mulder, who was being even more characteristically exuberant than usual. He had her big time. Or so he thought.

Later in the evening, William was poring over the latest issue of _UFO & Co._ when he saw Scully standing at the door.

'Hey. Can I come in?'

'Yeah sure mom. Hang on, let me clear the chair first.' William lifted the sky-high stack of books and magazines from his chair and put it haphazardly on the floor. Scully's face lit up with an amused smile. He is definitely Mulder's child.

'Okay now there's room for you. Sorry for the mess… what's up mom?'

'Well… I just want to have a chat. Are you studying?'

'Oh no I wasn't! Bring it on mom, I'm all ears!' William grinned, his smile a perfect mini version of Mulder's boyish face.

'So, dad told you about the vampire case, didn't he? With an emphasis on how taken up I was with the buck-teethed sheriff? The _Dana_ thing?'

'Hahhahaha yeah… you knew it when he teased you during dinner, didn't you? Don't worry mom I was joking about it but I think in a way that's pretty cute too, although rather funny… I mean the guy must have looked fairly… normal?'

Scully couldn't help but chuckle: 'Cute, huh?'

'Yeah! I'm serious! I also find it quite interesting too, mostly because it's you.'

'What do you mean because it's _me_?'

William scratched his hair as he found himself caught with a question he never thought about: 'Mom, you know what I mean. If it was just a story with a random girl I would have laughed at the cliché but you're… I don't know. You seem… different. What I mean is, you're kind of special. And uhm… you're my mom… and… yeah.'

'Will, my embarrassing moments aside, did dad tell you anything about _his_ involvement in the case?

'Kind of… he said he drove a stake through a guy's heart but no one believed that was the vampire so everyone was mad at him and he was in some kind of trouble with his boss. But it turned out that the guy _was_ a vampire so he was right all along. Yeah I think that's what he said.'

'That's it?'

'I think so? You mean there's more?'

'Did he say anything about his being drugged?'

'Oh yeah he said something about the pizza guy was the vampire and there was some chemicals in the pizza that made him sleep. When he woke up, he saw the vampire and ran after it. Oh and you were there too. But yeah I think that's pretty much it.'

'He said the drug made him _sleep_?'

'Yeah… Wait mom you mean there's more to this case?'

'Absolutely. Dad just told you half of it. The less interesting half. He left out all the juicy details involving him.'

'Whoa whoa mom tell me the rest please! You got me so curious!'

Scully knitted her eyebrows, feigning a concerned expression: 'Well… I don't think dad would want you to know… It's quite… amusing.'

'Come on mom! Please! I mean after all he did tell me your embarrassing story! And he teased you too! It's only fair if you tell me his!'

'Before I tell you, William, let me ask you something first.'

'Yes, mom?'

Scully lowered her voice mysteriously:

'How would you like a little conspiracy?'

(to be continued)


End file.
